I was happy to find out, shortly before shipping off for the race, that there is in fact a town in my home state called La France. Last year, Anderson was the destination of a charity ride that started in La France, thus the name. This year Anderson added a downtown crit to the festivities.
The course wasn't too technical, but it had its challenges. Front and back stretches were super long, a slight kicker-hill coming out of turn one, a downhill heading into a steeper, longer hill on the back stretch, and the straight away between turns 3 and 4 was a single lane street, so it made things a little bit more narrow. Not that that mattered with my group.
I lined up with a group of category 5 racers not much bigger than my last race. Only 10 this time. It astonishes me how small these crowds have been lately, more on that later.
I didn't get off to a very good start and found myself fighting to close a gap... again. I started this thing way too nonchalantly. I thought that whoever went out that hard was bound to come back, that I was the big man on campus and that I knew exactly how to handle this thing. It was a long race, right? There's no sense in starting that hard!
So coming back around at the end of lap 1, I heard Chad Andrews saying that there was already a gap on the front. Not on my watch!!! I was in my drops and chasing those guys down as soon as I heard that. No luck.
I had a small group of four to work with. The two other guys in the race were long gone by this point. I tried to work with these guys, take even pulls and keep the pace high enough to bring the others back. There's a lack of understanding that working as a group is better than blowing yourself up trying to do it all on your own. Not that I'm an expert on bike racing or anything.
So, the leader of my little band of misfits was brake happy, slowed down too much for the corners, but rode good lines. We had one guy who loved to cross wheels, and I knew he was going down eventually. I wasn't to sad to see him standing on the sidelines just a few laps later.
As it got down to it later, I realized that the 3 or 4 of us were racing for 5th now. It was just a matter of survival at this point. After 20-25ish minutes it was just two of us. Me and the guy I met from Athens. We chatted a little bit just kind of rode together until the laps started counting down.
I wasn't sure what protocol was at this point in the race. Clearly we were on our own. Pretty much just working together to get to the line. I took my last pull on the third to last lap. We came to one to go together, all the way to the hill on the backstretch. I came around him at the bottom of the hill and pushed a little bit harder than normal. Had a gap in turn 3, carried it through turn 4 until my front tire started to slide out on a crosswalk. Luckily, I race 'cross. Stood the bike up straight and stepped on the gas. I looked behind me to see I had a gap coming out of the turn and hit even harder, all the way to the line. I came across first after the "break away." So a top five is good, but getting dropped makes it bittersweet. It was the exact attack I planned on making on the last lap, I just thought I was going to do it for a podium.
So, I was talking to Adam about my race while he was preparing for his (TMK had a great weekend, by the way!). He seemed pretty shocked at how small my race was, saying that New England Cat 5 races fill up, and that organizers usually run two races for the Cat 5's. I'd be happy with 20-25 person races. But showing up with half that seems pretty ridiculous. I know I've done larger races (39 in Walterboro, 43 in Charleston), and I'm quite happy with that.
One problem I know has to be race conflicts. Both this race and Cheraw had conflicts within at least an hour's driving distance. I'm hoping that it's either this, or a lot of people are wrapping up for the year. The 4's looked to get a decent turn out-20 or 30. Made me start wondering if I was ready for an upgrade. It is kind of embarrassing racing the 5's... if that makes sense. I know I don't have a good record in 4/5 races, but back then I wasn't training with Cycle-Smart.
I know that if there aren't more people in Winston-Salem this Saturday, the State Champs on the 18th are going to be a shock to the system.
Downtown Anderson was an interesting place. I like being in these small South Carolina towns, but I don't think I'd ever want to live in one. I also don't think I'd ever visit Anderson for anything other than a bike race, but I appreciate its existence. The Fox was the English style pub I checked out, but I'm beer fasting right now and the menu wasn't exactly crawling with vegetarian options. Kind of upset I didn't get to eat local (I opted instead for Moe's, which was awful). I just wasn't in the mood for a salad on bread.
Fletcher, NC training 'cross race on Wednesday, I plan on leading tip to tail. Then the Old Salem Criterium up in Winston Saturday. Looks like another 5am wake up for a 5:30 departure. I have high hopes for my final tune up before the state championships.
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